By Corey Lyons
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - The blazing emblems of American independence will fill the skies in a frenzy of patriotism Friday night, when all roads lead to Roman candles, weeping willows and other precisely-timed explosions.
America celebrates its 227th birthday Friday the same way it always has: loud and loaded.
Dozens of Bay Area cities will roll out elaborate fireworks shows, widening eyes with a dazzling assortment of chrysanthemums and peonies.
Wait a minute. Chrysanthemums? Peonies?
After more than two centuries of cranking our heads skyward to marvel at fireworks, we still know little about these "shells" and the people who put them together.
For pyrotechnicians, July 4 is a day that requires months of labor-intensive planning and organizing.
"We get started July 5, ordering fireworks from China and counting leftover inventory," said Chris Souza, a show producer for Pyro Spectaculars, the largest pyrotechnic firm in California.
Fireworks, traced to the Chinese about 1,000 years ago (they invented gunpowder, the key ingredient), fuels a $725 million U.S. industry.
It's a growing phenomenon. Fireworks use has nearly tripled over the past decade; more than 190 million pounds burned in 2002.
This rising trend is credited to more innovative technology, improved safety and more flexible state laws.
A surge of post-Sept. 11 patriotism probably didn't hurt things either.
In any case, it allows people like the Souza family to stay in the business of blowing things up legally.
They run Pyro Spectaculars, which handles about 1,500 shows a year. The Rialto-based outfit lights the fuse for cities all over the Bay Area, including San Francisco, San Ramon, Livermore, Martinez and Pittsburg.
A typical show lasts about 20 minutes. It can cost anywhere from $7,500 to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Martinez will spend $8,000 for its 24-minute show on the waterfront, while Richmond spent $21,000 for a 10-15-minute show Thursday - one loaded with large shells.
"We get more bang for our buck and we don't compete with other Fourths," said Diane Harrison- Allums, a community services manager for Richmond.
On a recent day, a crew for Pyro Spectaculars organized mortar tubes by size into wood crates on a rusted barge at Pier 50 in San Francisco.
The tubes, which will be hand-packed with fireworks or "shells," ranged in size from 3 to 12 inches wide.
Once a shell is loaded into its cylindrical tube, a pyrotechnician wires it to a computer network. A single button sets everything off, in a precise order.
This arsenal of fireworks, procured from places all over the world, includes brocade crown chrysanthemums, happy faces, gold palms, spangled flowers, fish shells and popcorn.
"A new one is a multi-shot cake device, or Z-cake. It's like holding a hose and waving it back and forth, shooting pellets out," said Jeff Thomas, a regional show producer.
Nearby at Pier 50, another fireworks display firm, Boom Boom Productions, was also setting up its weapons of mass eruption on a beat-up barge.
This is a smaller outfit, a "Gilligan's Island crew," as one worker put it. The group was preparing shells for a show in Richmond on July 3, followed by a gig in Sausalito on Friday.
John Diesso, a cabby and part time pyro, refused to wax philosophical about the fireworks trade. "We just like blowin' stuff up."
Diesso, whose white hard hat was affixed with a tiny American flag, joined this group headed by Dave DeBella a couple of years ago.
It's become a sort of seasonal community, with an attorney, a painter, an electrician, a bartender, a salesman and a registered nurse all working side-by-side, setting up explosives.
"I'm an unlicensed pyro - those guys are licensed," said Diesso, pointing to the others. "I think it's more romantic to be an unlicensed pyro."
DeBella, who manages about five shows a year, has been filling the sky with sparks since the 1970s. He said fireworks colors are richer and brighter than ever before. "Purple is nice now."
This year, he will launch weeping willows, which "have a nice hanging gold rain effect," and other specialty effects Boom Boom gets through its special brand in China.
One shell is called "whistles and fish," he said, "with purple pistols and a tail. It weaves in and out and whistles at the same time."
Richmond was in store for some large shells, the 10-inchers, or large enough to put your head inside.
Steve Roberts, a lawyer in Burlingame, will be on the barge when the first shots rattle the deck and light up the sky.
"You go, ooh, ahhh - wait a minute, burning embers are coming down."
KRT CALIFORNIA is a premium service of Knight Ridder/Tribune
© 2003, Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.).
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
